Between Shades Of Gray Essay

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“1944” and Between Shades of Gray: Expression Through Art Multitudes of people were deported by the Soviets under the order of Josef Stalin during World War II, including Crimean Tatars and Lithuanians. One such example of the Soviet’s cruelty is depicted in the novel Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys: “He threw his burning cigarette onto our clean living room floor and ground it into the wood with his boot. We were about to become cigarettes” (5). Between Shades of Gray is narrated through the eyes of fifteen-year-old artist, Lina Vilkas. Soviet soldiers, known as the NKVD, take Lina and her family from Lithuania to labor in Siberian camps with little supplies and hope. As people around her die at the NKVD’s hands, she is forced to endure …show more content…

It was risky for deportees to speak of their experiences in the camps even after returning home, so Lina expresses her cry for help through her letters she leaves for the future. She writes, “...evil will rule until good men or women choose to act...This testimony was written to create an absolute record, to speak in a world where our voices have been extinguished” (Sepetys 338). Lina wants the people of the future to inform the world of the Soviet’s brutality, so the deportees’ situation can be prevented from reocurring. Jamala calls out as well, questioning, “Where is your mind?/ Humanity cries” (7-8) and “Where is your heart?/ Humanity rise” (21-22). She appeals to humanity to rise against Stalin and NKVD, and protests that humanity is crying because of the Soviets. In addition to her lyrics communicating the deportees’ distress, her vocalizations near the end of the song, raising in pitch and intensity, convey the emotion and pain felt by the deportees. Her singing is laden with the deep feelings and cries of the many deported, exposing the torment caused by Soviet cruelty for the world to hear. The impression that the NKVD’s cruelty left was strong enough for the deportees to have to call out in fear. Between Shades of Gray and “1944” both emphasize the cries of the persecuted people that are driven to entreat the world for assistance because of Stalin and the NKVD’s inhumane

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